Liver Culture Indicators for the Detection of Chemical Carcinogens

Abstract

In any test system under consideration for inclusion in a battery of short-term tests for carcinogens, the two principal components that determine the usefulness of the test are the metabolizing system and the endpoint of the test (Williams, 1980a). Tests involving intact mammalian cells offer potential advantages in both components, by providing intracellular metabolism of chemicals within the target cell and reliable endpoints whose biological significance is clear. The development of liver-derived test systems has been pursued because liver possesses the broadest capability of any organ for metabolizing chemical carcinogens (Weisburger and Williams, 1975). We have suggested that the most useful endpoints in mammalian cells to supplement bacterial mutagenesis tests in a battery would be DNA repair, sister chromatid exchange, mutagenesis, and transformation (Weisburger and Williams, 1978; 1980b).